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Bo Doesn’t Know

His first 15 years of collegiate coaching were for UW Platteville. The team went 39-39 in the first 3 years. The team did not lose more than 5 games in a given year after that, and they acquired 4 championships in the process with 2 of those being on the back of undefeated seasons.

He coached at UW Milwaukee for 2 years and went 30-27.

He was hired by the Badgers in 2001, and has made the tournament every year. That has come with multiple regular season and conference championships. The farthest they’ve gotten was a Final Four appearance last year, where they were bounced by Kentucky by 1 point.

On to current times – 7:04 PM. Sunday. March 22, 2015. CenturyLink Center. Omaha, Nebraska.

As expected by most of the nation, the UW Badgers defeated the Oregon Ducks, which pushed Wisconsin on to the Sweet 16 where they’ll match up with the Tar Heels.

I actually watched the second half of this game because of how close the score was down the stretch. I’m not sure exactly what time it ended, but somewhere around 9 – 9:30 is a safe bet.

The most surprising thing to me is that after the game, Bo Ryan was cited with concerns about how he thinks his team was slighted by the committee for having their game on a Sunday night, then having to take a day off and fly out to Los Angeles on Monday night for the regional games later this week. Mind you, the team still has class that will obviously have to be made up on the road, in addition to prep and practice for Thursday’s game.

I understand where Bo is coming from, but if you want to be a national headliner, this is how it works. If you’re ‘Directional State University’ or ‘Insert Mid-Major Team Here’, then you’ll have the most convenient schedule. If you want to hang with the Kentuckys and the Dukes of the world, you’ve got to be able to handle primetime, in addition to playing on primetime. No one tunes in to games in the middle of the day. You want an audience? You play at 7PM on a Sunday night.

I’ve never heard Coach Calipari or Coach K complain about scheduling. They can handle it, and they’ve trained their players to handle it. That’s why they are national powerhouses, and the Badgers are just another team in a small town in the middle of a cornfield.

You get the spotlight, you get the national attention, and you get the recognition when you can play outside of your local fans and farmers.